Gears of War: The Damned
by EmperorOfTheSunFirstAndTheLast
Summary: Marcus Fenix. Hero of the Pendulum War, Locust War, and Lambent Pandemic, is travelling through Tyrus to aid his Son and his friends to face a new threat, yet when he arrives at the Tollen Dam, the past just can't help but haunt him. Follow the story of the Leader of the lost Gears of Tollen, the brave defenders he couldn't save, and whose deaths haunt him to this very day.


**Gears of War: The Damned**

 **Unknown month, 42A.E. Tollen Dam, Jacinto Plateau, Tyrus.**

The gunfire echoed in his head, he could hear the brief chatter of men on the radio screaming for help, then, silence. Marcus looked up, the huge looming structure ahead of them, Tollen Dam, the only part of the city left standing from the Locust War, it wasn't in the best of condition, but then, what was? This is the new world, and the COG now faced a new enemy. He sighed, only barely aware of his Son passing by him, followed by Del, JD's best friend, and Kait, following slightly behind, she was slower than the others, holding back, Marcus continued to gaze at the dam as the sound of the rain melded with the echoes of gunfire in his head, he was shaken from his trance like state by Kait. "Hey Marcus" she called, concern in her voice, yet softly, "you coming?" she asked, in that moment Marcus glanced slightly downwards, the sound of the rain slamming on his armour dragging him further back to reality, following behind the group as they walked to a large turbine, the fencing stopping people from getting in and out long since rusted, destroyed or looted by the 'outsiders'.

Kait began to talk again, "when you were here with the COG..." Marcus knew what she was going to ask, and he steeled himself, trying to force back any further flashbacks as she continued, "What happened?". 'There it was' Marcus thought to himself, he wasn't angry at her, she was just curious, far too young to remember the Locust War, even younger to remember E-Day and the Pendulum Wars before that, she grew up outside the Coalition of Ordered Governments, and she lived in peace, until now, it was only natural she wanted to learn more. Marcus began to answer, trying to be as stoic as he could, "This Dam powered the last of the COG's factories. I got here right before it fell. Exfiltration Mission." The words began getting tighter in his throat, as the whizzing of gunfire and the screeches of the mortars echoed in his head once more, "A few dozen Gears were trapped inside" he managed to finish, but this time, it was his Son, JD, who asked the next question, "So, how'd you get 'em out?". Marcus felt shame rise from the pits of his stomach to his throat, and the words that came next made him relive all the guilt he had managed to hide away for almost thirty years in that one, split second, before he managed to spit out his reply, "I didn't".

 **1st Bloom, 0 A.E. Jannermont, Tyrus**

"Get those civvies out of here!" Lieutenant Nichols barked over the ever-encroaching sound of gunfire. Six weeks had passed since the Pendulum Wars had ended, eighty years of conflict, six weeks of peace. It hardly seemed right to the Lieutenant. How could the Indies have thought that with the Hammer of Dawn technology that had destroyed an entire fleet of theirs could restart the war and think it would end any other way than their destruction? They had the element of surprise, he accepted that, they'd kill thousands, if not tens of thousands, but in return they risk the wrath of orbital bombardment killing millions of their people, and for what gain? 'oh well, just more dead indies, what is it to me anyway?' He thought to himself. "Sergeant Fenix" Nichols began to shout over the chaos of the fleeing civilian traffic, cars blocked the roads and dozens of pedestrians fled on foot, choosing to rely on their ability to move to save their lives rather than a car. "Yes Sir?" a voice replied from the other side of the street, barely audible but definitely that of his Sergeant. "Sergeant Fenix, get Del Rio up onto the roof of that Bar! Tell him to keep up us up to date on where the Indies are, these civilians are going to get caught in the cross fire!" the Lieutenant shouted.

It came as a shock to anyone that Tyrus Itself had been caught under siege so rapidly, but the Gorasni were a crafty and brutal people if nothing else, they were effectively the UIR's own Pesang, except in bulkier armour and much louder in their movements. A small buzz of static came through into his helmets radio, Fenix's acknowledgement of the order, easier than shouting, but Nichols was trying to keep the comms as clear as possible, he needed to hear what was going on at the front, which, by now, must have been only a couple of streets away, maybe even closer, it wasn't good, every time he listened in to what was being said he could only piece together strange reports of monsters. The Gorasni were brutal, he'd heard of their treatment of the Duke of Tollen's Regiment in their POW camps, but monsters, really? Hardened, pale skin? The Indies were brutal, but they were smart, they would have been in Armour. Perhaps the stress of constant battle was wearing thin on his Gears. "Sir, there's something, well, lots of somethings, coming up the road! I have no fucking clue what they are..." Del Rio's voice just came to a sudden stop, bullets began whizzing past, dozens of civilians, men, women and children, just dropped to the floor, the Indies were mowing them down. "Alpha get down there and kill those bastards! Now! Keep the civilians safe! Echo, move forward and get them out of their cars, keep them covered!" Nichols screamed down his radio. Ten Gears advanced forward, the first five fired in short bursts, opening up on the Indies down the road. The five behind them started getting any civilian they could out of the line of fire, "Del Rio, what do you see, how many Indies are down there" Nichols asked, he crossed the road, hopping over cars with angry and scared civilians in there, refusing, or unable, to leave their vehicles with the fight just outside their doors. "Sir, I erm... they aren't" Del Rio couldn't find his words, he swallowed hard. "They aren't human sir" the Sniper finally replied.

As he walked calmly over to Sergeant Fenix, who was behind a sandbag barrier with two other Gears, Corporal Dominic Santiago, a Commando assigned to the 26th Royal Tyran Infantry for the duration of hostilities, and Private Tai Kaliso, a strange but fiercely loyal and dedicated Gear from the South Islands. "What the fuck do you mean they aren't human Private?" the Lieutenant asked, confused, and increasingly concerned that the prior radio chatter was true. "Sir they're just, beasts, with guns" Del Rio sputtered back. He couldn't see much beyond the growing crowd of fleeing civilians, his Gears had vanished amongst them, but gunfire still cackled nearby, they were engaged in a fight and as Nichols began to listen, he could tell his sniper wasn't lying, Alpha were engaged in a firefight with non-human combatants. 'shit' Nichols thought to himself, 'where the fuck did monsters come from without us knowing?' he questioned, but he had no answers to give himself. "Zeta, get your arses down to Alpha, help them out, Delta, Bravo, spread out, use the empty cars as cover, open up doors, block the street, the civvies will be away from here shortly, use sandbags to provide extra cover" Nichols began ordering, "Echo, when the last of the civilians are gone from your area, get yourselves back to my position, we hold here, not gonna let these bastards kill anymore civilians" the Lieutenant finished, the stream of civilians had slowly but surely began to decline from a stream to a trickle, and as it did, he could see Alpha, three of the Gears of that squad were dead, Zeta were pushing forward, firing as they went, and for the first time Nichols could see his new enemy. The creature stood about six or seven feet tall, leathery, hide like skin, ovular, bald heads, there wasn't a hair on their bodies, which were barely armoured, thick armour around the legs with bandoliers around their torso, guns firing rapidly, it was shooting whatever it could. Nichols watched the action unfold in front of him, the remaining gears under his command were carrying out his orders, and as the Lieutenant watched the beast walk forward, executing wounded civilians and firing on his Gears, its head suddenly went flying off, blood shooting into the air as if it's heart still assumed there was a head to pump anything towards. The body slumped to the ground but it mattered little, two more of the beasts advanced to replace it. There must have been thirty or forty of them advancing, they were slow, meticulous, but savage. The civilians were gone, the road was clear now, except the cars that had been abandoned.

"Echo, Alpha, Zeta get back here, we'll cover you" Nichols ordered through comms. The fight was about to get real now. He walked towards the makeshift barricade they'd formed out of cars and sandbags. The Gears ahead of him slowly pulled back, firing off rounds towards the creatures before moving to cover, repeating the process, Nichols and the Gears at the barricade opened fire on the creatures too, five of them dropped dead in quick succession, but the remainder just advanced more cautiously, by the time the remaining troops got back to the barrier, Alpha had been wiped out, their bodies lay ahead of them, Zeta was at half strength and Echo had lost a Gear too. In just fifteen minutes, the road had been littered with the bodies of civilians and at least eight Gears, the casualties to the monsters was miniscule compared to the COG's. "Del Rio, is there anything up there to suggest they have a leader with them?" Nichols asked, he fired his Lancer at the nearest of the beasts and after a quarter of his magazine it dropped dead, they slowly made their way towards the Gears line, and it worried the Lieutenant, "Negative sir, nothing, they all look the same from here, same equipment, same armour, if it can even be called that, there's nothing, like some sort of swarm of locusts, they just keep coming, they have more heads to blow off than I have bullets sir" Del Rio responded at last, the rounds of the Longshot were easily visible as they flew towards their targets, another head clean off. The smoke trail lingered, but by now the enemy had caught on to the sniper's position and his shots were becoming few and far between as he was forced to take cover from supressing fire. "Del Rio get down here, we have to fall back they're getting too close" Nichols finally ordered, next to him, the remaining Gears under his command valiantly stood, doing their best to slow the growing horde ahead of them.

"The industrial region of Jannermont has fallen. Evacuation efforts in that area are hereby halted immediately, any and all convoys are to await orders and reroute to new taskings" the Comms Operator spoke calmly. 'Amazing how they do it, the city is falling apart, they must have heard about the fact the enemy aren't even Human, yet they maintain composure as the situation deteriorates Del Rio made his way out of the bar and took cover behind the nearest sandbag wall. "Kaliso, Fenix, lob some grenades over to their lines, we're falling back, our positions untenable" Nichols barked over the gunfire. The two men pulled grenades out, and prepared to throw them, Fenix looked towards the officer, and Nichols nodded, the Sergeant then tapped Kaliso on the shoulder, their grenades flew towards enemy forces, and detonated, several of the creatures went flying back, alongside their limbs, but like Locusts several more just came forward to replace them, the Gears fired as they slowly withdrew, thankfully due to the checkpoint they'd have a clear route to escape, but with no cars to take cover several of his soldiers were killed by enemy fire. The Gears turned the corner, as a Centaur drove down, it made its way towards their abandoned barricade and fired, the huge cannon brought the Locust advance to a halt, those who survived the huge shell blast withdrew, but the battle wasn't over, the Gears took a brief moment to regain their composure, gunfire still echoed all around the city, huge plumes of smoke rose high into the sky, presumably the burning remains of Jannermont's industries, coal, steel, vehicles, and Imulsion refining, all valuable, all now levelled in hours of intense urban combat. Overhead, hundreds of King Raven helicopters flew sorties, civilians evacuating the city, reinforcements being deployed, and heavy equipment being transported. Jannermont was becoming a major battleground, no one wished to see these monsters take the city from the Coalition.

"Lieutenant Nichols, we're taking command of Zeta from you, they're being tasked as reinforcements for an evac site to the south west of your position, you and the rest of your company will redeploy due East of your current location. There are reports of a large hole in the ground where the creatures are emerging from. We'll update you when we know more, control out" the voice on the comms said. Nichols sighed, and checked over his equipment. "Well, you heard the lady, Zeta get going, the rest of you, with me". The remaining Gears of Nichols' company advanced cautiously, the streets were now empty, only a few abandoned cars lay in their path, for the most part the civilians in this region of the city had been evacuated. The streets seemed strangely serene, intact, yet if they went back on themselves just a few hundred meters there'd be corpses, bullet holes riddling walls, limbs and blood scattered around. The lieutenant and his Gears walked silently, it felt like forever before they approached the increasingly louder explosions, for whilst the fighting was audible throughout the city, it had begun to quiet, and now, as they drew nearer the hole, Nichols worried about the situation he would find himself and his troops in. He thought back to his earliest engagement. The look of those creatures, Locust like in there in abilities to swarm by the looks of things. "Mortar!" a voice cried out, Kaliso dived to the side, so did several other Gears, but three of them, were blown back, several explosions rocked around Nichols as he found himself flung into a shop window, the clothes hung from their racks, and mannequins gazed at him almost accusingly. "Shit, check for casualties, we need to move forward, they've captured our equipment, let's take it back" Nichols said through comms, there was some silence before Fenix responded, "three dead Lieutenant, no serious wounds on the rest of us, where are you?" Nichols coughed briefly, and recovered himself, he climbed back out the window he'd been flung through, and exited onto the street.

Where once there had been a clean, cobbled road, instead were a series of craters, and just a few feet to his right, the bodies of his three Gears. Up above, there was a tremendous sound of creaking steel as a departing King Raven was blown apart, it crashed down into a house just opposite Nichols and his company. "Alright, let's pick up our pace, and spread out, two columns down the side of the road, keep your eyes open, if they've stolen our equipment, we don't know if they broke our lines" Nichols shouted. The Gears did as they were told, and the six of them that still remained moved down the road as quickly as they could. What they would see as they entered the square ahead of them would shock Nichols to the core. A huge sinkhole had opened up, the square that once held markets and events for civilians to enjoy now lay almost all but destroyed, from out of it poured hundreds of the strange creatures. The remaining Gears who'd been mentioned in their update from control were struggling to maintain their perimeter and contain the enemy. "Spread out, find a position, and don't stop firing at the sons of bitches until you run out of ammo!" the Lieutenant shouted over the chaos, "Control, Nichols here, we've reached the Sinkhole, there's barely any Gears left, is help on the way?", the reply that came through was patchy at best, "Lieute...COG forces in... Tyrus is...Hold for...Ra..." the communications went dead as a large, ant like creature crawled out the giant hole, it was a lumbering creature, and horrifying to witness, it turned slowly, Nichols took aim and fired at it, but the rounds from his Lancer did barely anything, the creature roared out over the gunfire and explosions. "Sergeant Fenix?" Nichols barked down the radio, but there was nothing but static, he looked around, the doo-ragged soldier was crouched behind an upturned table, popping out from behind to fire shots whenever he could before the large hail of return fire pinned him back down, there was little cover between him and the Sergeant, but Nichols needed to try something to restore communications with control.

'Shit, shit, shit' Nichols thought to himself, he tried to find himself the safest path to Marcus, but there was barely anything, some ruined bricks, part of a low wall, some chairs that had been torn apart, and a tonne of enemy bullets whizzing everywhere. The Lieutenant dared to raise his head over his small piece of cover, just in time to see the rear end of the huge ant-like creature open up, ink built up around it and Nichols thought their enemy was going to literally cover them in the faeces of the war beast, but the reality was going to be worse, suddenly, two smaller creatures, or perhaps some form of bio-mechanical device flew out, surrounded by the same ink, they soon flew straight towards the positions of a group of Gears who'd found some decent defensible position, and as soon as they impacted the area the Humans were blow apart, those who survived choked as they tore off their inked up helmets only to choke on the inky fumes that engulfed them. One of the Gears, a woman, barely into her twenties, probably her first combat mission, lay convulsing on the floor, gasping for breath as the ink and the fumes consumed her too. Within a matter of minutes she lay still, surrounded by several other dead Gears, and their limbs. The Lieutenant looked back to where his Sergeant was and he had vanished, he scanned the area around and saw him and Private Kaliso, alongside Santiago and another Gear he didn't recognise moving their way forwards through the ruins of a café. "Sergeant what in the hell are you doing?" Nichols shouted into the radio, but again, static, in the shocking events of the past few moments he'd completely forgotten the lack of any form of communication other than shouting as loud as he could.

"Fuck sake" the Lieutenant mumbled to himself, he stood now, raised above his cover, only his legs were safe from enemy fire, he unloaded every round he had left in the Lancer's magazine as he opened up on the enemy around him. Three of the creatures fell dead, one took several rounds to the chest, it dropped to its knees, but after a couple of seconds stood back up, its gun aimed right at him, Nichols rolled out the way as a burst of fire sent dust and debris up around where he'd stood just moments prior, but he was now exposed, and his Lancer was dry, he dropped the empty magazine and jogged as fast as he could to a ruined gift shop to his left. Bullets whizzed past him and debris flew into and behind his path, he almost made it, but before he could one of the strange little creatures from the rear of the war beast slammed down just a meter behind him, blowing him forwards and slamming into the wall, the entrance to the ruined shop was perhaps, six or seven feet away from him, but the force of the impact had disoriented him. The Lieutenant drew his Snub Pistol and shot several rounds into an encroaching enemy, killing it as it fell to its knees another merely tossed the corpse of its former comrade aside, making way for its own attempt of Nichols' life. It however, didn't get the chance either as its head flew off, a Sniper had killed it, the unmistakeable sound of a Longshot rang off in the distance, but Nichols didn't have time to spare, he stood himself up, the world around him still spinning slightly as he picked up his Lancer and raised his Snub. He fired on the next enemy to approach him. The creature barely flinched before it grabbed Nichols by the throat, the stench of its breath and body was barely filtered through his helmet, if the sudden force of such a hold hadn't taken all his breath before, the effort it took not to gag and wretch at the scent definitely made it impossible to breathe. His eyes watering, he did all he could to try and have the beast loosen its grip on him. He swung at the creatures' arm with his own hands, he dropped his Lancer, and raised his pistol, firing rounds into the beast's chest, but it did nothing, the few rounds that had been left were now spent, and he was sure he was going to black out.

The world grew darker as his eyes filled with water and what little oxygen was in his body slowly left. Nichols could barely feel his punches impacting, which told him, he was probably not connecting any blows. 'This is it' he thought to himself, hanging by the throat, in the hands of a creature no one had ever believed could exist, in a city far away from his home. But as he began to make peace with his life choices, and accepting that he had done his best, even if it wasn't good enough, the creature dropped him as a loud roar echoed throughout the square. The Lieutenant tried his hardest to get his breath back, he pulled his helmet off despite what a decade of training had taught him to do and cleared his watering eyes as best he could, he then grabbed the knife from the holster on his belt and rammed it into the back of the beast that once held him, the thick skin nearly made his blade rebound but he managed to force it in, he pulled it out and slammed it back in several more times, before finally letting the adrenaline take over and he started slicing at the throat of his enemy. Dropping to its knees Nichols granted it a quicker death than it intended to give him, and slit its throat with tremendous effort, he let muscle memory kick in now, he slipped back to his Lancer and slid in a new magazine, he then found his snub pistol which he must have dropped without even realising and reloaded that too, back in the fight he stood up and took cover in the gift shop, but he soon realised the square had fallen silent, above him he could hear the whirring of King Ravens. He stood, and gazed out the shops front window, and Sergeant Fenix and his impromptu force stood by the war beast, its rear end blown apart, the remaining enemy forces had either fled back down into the tunnel, or was being gunned down by the remaining Gears and the gunners of the Ravens. "Control this is Nichols, I take it we can thank you for the support?" the Lieutenant asked. "Copy that Lieutenant, the Ravens are here for you, Jannermont is fully evacuated, we're pulling Gears out, there's a naval base at Halvo Bay, we're keeping the 26th RTI there whilst we rebuild its strength, you're gonna keep the Navy safe alongside Marines whilst we either withdraw or scuttle whatever we can't take with us" the Controller said, it was a different controller now, Nichols sort of envied her, she only had to deal with the fights in shifts, for him and his Gears, the fighting wouldn't end until the enemy was dead... Or he was.

 **3rd Thaw, 0 A.E. Halvo Bay, Tyrus**

"Hell it's been six weeks, we're still here training recruits and babysitting Marines. When are we going to get back into the fight Lieutenant?" a young Corporal asked him. He'd fought alongside Corporal Maxson in the final years of the Pendulum Wars. A good soldier, but always eager to fight, Nichols worried about him in this new war, against an enemy they didn't understand. "I don't know Corporal, but honestly, just be glad for the peace, remember Jannermont? It was a shit show, and we're doing a good thing here, you never know when we're gonna need this equipment. Besides, the longer we're here and the more helpful we are, maybe the Marines will decide that they can join the fight as well" the Lieutenant replied, which drew a couple of chuckles from nearby Gears, except Sergeant Fenix who lay in his bunk, eyes closed, but clearly not asleep. The Lieutenant wondered if he ever slept, and worried about him too. There were many gears under his command, but he didn't feel the need to keep an eye on any one of them, except Marcus Fenix, and Jacob Maxson, one, because he was the quiet brooding type, and he wanted to make sure he was okay all the time, the other, because he was so desperate to fight he worried he would get himself killed. There was a time and place for everything, but as long as they followed orders and fought hard, he was content to keep his concerns to himself.

As the hours of the day ticked by, Nichols went on a walk around the perimeter, his lancer hung loosely in his arms as gazed around the peaceful city. Before this new war it was a resort town, and a major hub for the military. The city contains the Halvo Bay Military Acadamy, which trained all members of the Onyx Guard, the elite of the elite if stories are to be believed, though Corporal Santiago would disagree, there's respect there, but he didn't believe they were anything more than better funded Gears. Nichols had never fought alongside an Onyx Guard unit, but had seen them before, they have near pitch black armour, it's an intimidating sight, but other than that, he had never witnessed their combat prowess. But alongside the Acadamy, there was the Endeavour Naval Base, home to a Raven's Nest class Helicopter Carrier, as well as four Battleships and a Cruiser, at least eight-thousand Marines, Sailors and other Naval Personnel, and three submarines, one of which is apparently a stealth sub, though none of the units there had seen it, so no one knew if it was true.

Finally, the city held a Garrison of Gears just outside, and the Museum of Military Glory, a facility off shore also existed at Halvo Point, but it was top secret and guarded by Onyx units, so was never counted much in terms of the city and its honour of being a town of military might and power. The lieutenant however, never failed to be amazed by how beautiful the Bay was though, despite all the military infrastructure, the city was a city that any civilian would envy the chance to move too, even now as roads were barricaded, checkpoints choked streets and Centaur tanks routinely patrolled alongside Armadillo Armoured Personnel Carriers and their contingent of Gears the city was a beautiful place. As he walked his way around the outer perimeter, watching civilians go about their daily lives and fellow Gears marching down roads a light rain began to fall, and a King Raven approached the naval base, it was jet black though, which didn't seem good, why would Onyx Guard units be here for no reason. Nichols moved his way around a small Hangar and approached the Helipad which had, gathered a small crowd as four Onyx Guard soldiers exited the Raven followed by a gruff looking Colonel that Nichols recognised immediately as Victor Hoffman, a hero of Anvil Gate if you were to believe the stories, but Nichols knew first hand that despite the stories, Hoffman didn't feel like a hero, he didn't have to be at the siege to know that whatever happened, he regretted the way It had to end deeply, and he heard it first hand from arguments in the old RTI's Barracks in Jacinto. The second man however, shocked him deeply, it was Chairman Dalyell. Why would the Chairmen risk leaving Ephyra for the war-torn south of Tyrus?

The six men left for the Admiralty House, watched by the crowd of shocked personnel. Nichols wanted to find out what was going on, but he decided against trying to spy on whatever was going to happen and instead returned to the Barracks, the Gears were restless, some were arm-wrestling in the corner, testing their strength against each other, some were playing poker or other card games, others still just sat cleaning their equipment. Others wrote home to family, and Nichols wondered if they were writing to family who were alive, or if it was just a method of coping, but he wasn't going to ask them, it was their business. He removed his helmet and set it down on his cot, leaning his Lancer up against the wall checking the safety on both the rifle and his Snub. "So what's going on out there Lieutenant?" Dom asked. The last of the Santiago's Nichols pitied him, though he'd never admit it. "It seems the Chairman's here, and Hoffman too, they went to the Admiralty's House so I'm guess Commander Fyne is in some deep trouble for some reason, or he's done something amazing in the past six weeks we've been here and just never realised" Nichols said, chuckling to himself slightly, though he didn't even know why he found it funny. "Hoffman, the old bastard, been a while, but if the Chairman is here for Fyne... Well," Santiago paused and grinned ever so slightly, "God help him if he has Hoffman let loose on him, he's an honest son of a bitch, and he won't tolerate any lies he's told". Nichols smiled, and nodded, he was aware of Hoffman's brutal honesty, and the temper he could build up if someone withheld any important information from him, especially if it was critical to the situation. "With that Corporal, I agree" the Lieutenant replied as he slid himself onto his bunk, he was still in his full armour, so he barely felt any comfort, but years of sleeping in his armour had taught him to get rest and sleep anywhere, so he found it easy to relax, he closed his eyes, though he didn't sleep, instead he thought about what it was like elsewhere in the world. Were the Locust winning, were the COG. He even found himself thinking about the Indies and if they were faring any better or worse. For sure the Gorasni must have been doing well, they were brutal, and efficient, and near perfect Guerrilla fighters, only outmatched by the Pesang of the COG Army. The six weeks of silence at Halvo Bay had made him hopeful that the war would soon be over, after all, surely if they were doing that well the city would be under siege by now. Santiago had mentioned Mercy being evacuated a week ago, but that the Locust were barely making any headway and that it was just a precaution.

Again, the hours continued to pass and the evening had begun cast a gloomy darkness across the city, the rain had gotten heavier and by the time the Chairman's Raven had begun to depart he could barely hear the whirring of the rotors. Sleep continued to elude him, which mattered little as the call for Mess time had been rung out, and the Gears left the barracks, in full gear, Nichols and the men and women of his Company got in line at the mess hall, and waited their turn, the rain was horrendous and he was relieved to get into the hall and get some warm food in him. Thankfully rationing hadn't gotten too bad just yet and they had a good meal of bacon, sausages, eggs and beans, as well as some small pieces of fruit and vegetables. He found himself a table to sit at, around him was Sergeant Fenix, Private's Salton and Kaliso, Corporal's Santiago and Maxson and a new recruit fresh in from the fight at Kinnerlake, which was all but a disaster. His name was Augustus Cole, a former thrashball star for the Hanover Cougars, now a member of the 4th Ephyra Light Infantry, and highly charismatic, he'd hit it off with the members of every division, regiment and company in Endeavour Base.

"Well, dig in Baby! Cole Train wants every one of you in fighting shape! I didn't win against the SHARKS by skipping my meals and crying to the opposition!" Cole said, presumably to something Nichols had missed, he'd emphasised the 'Sharks' and a blonde-haired Gear with a pair of welding goggles hanging around his neck turned and shouted something back in response, but it was drowned out in the growing noise of the mess. Nichols ignored the men around him for the most part and just focused on enjoying his meal, but sadly, 'dig in' was the worst choice of words as barely five minutes into his dinner, the ground rumbled, it was ignorable the first few times, but then, the tremors grew heavier and heavier, and Alarms around the base blared, soon faces vanished beneath their helmets and troops poured out the mess hall. Nichols sighed, one of the last to pay heed to the alarm, he swallowed his last mouthful, the last decent meal he might have for days, weeks or even months. He placed his helmet over his head and grabbed his Lancer, flipping off the safety and following the last stragglers into the grounds of the base. "Mount up! Get moving! There's E-Holes by the Acadamy!" the General in command of the RTI screamed over loudspeakers. The Gears got into their Armadillos and Centaurs rushed towards the Military Acadamy. Nichols clambered into the compartment of the APC. It wasn't the most comfortable, and once it started rolling along the streets of the city it didn't get much better, however he understood the urgency. It didn't take too long to arrive at their objective, and even before the troop compartment opened the thunder of mortar fire and the cackles of gunfire could be heard mixed in with the pouring of the rain. "Dismount! Move! Move!" Nichols shouted, Salton, Santiago, and Fenix leapt out, the Lieutenant followed behind, Maxson remained, he mounted the turret and fired on the Locust who were climbing their way out of the Emergence Hole. "Fenix, Salton, move forward, slowly, house by house, I want to make sure there's no civvies caught in our lines!" Nichols barked at them, "Santiago, move up with me, we'll cover them as they advance!" he shouted to the man next to him. Maxson continued to gun down dozens of the enemy as the moved their way forwards, above them however, flew strange beasts, Controllers had coined the name 'reavers', they were effectively the mainstay of the Locust 'air force' if it could be called that, they fired upon the surrounding area as Gears swarmed around the Locust lines, "Maxson" Nichols spoke on the Radio as he and Corporal Santiago made their way forward, firing at the enemy who escaped the barrage of machine gun fire from the APC and were seeking cover amongst the ruins they'd created by sinking the roads nearby. "fire on those Reavers, do not let them get a fix on us, I don't want to worry about threats from the air as well as underground!" he ordered, the Corporal immediately lent back and opened up on the creatures above, one took a hit from a stray round and two of its four legs came flying off, the beast fell to the ground as the Locust rider was thrown from its mount and fell screaming to the ground, slamming into a nearby roof and sliding down to the road below, Nichols fired several rounds into its head just in case. Fenix left the first of the houses he had to search and entered a second, Pad however, remained in the first, his longshot poking through a window ever so slightly, as more E-Holes opened up further down the road he fired on whatever he could, Santiago shifted his aim and fired on the remaining locust who were advancing from the now closing sinkhole in front of them, Nichols grabbed a grenade and threw it, two Locust were blown completely apart, a third had its arm torn off but advanced, firing its rifle single-handedly, Dom gunned it down, about nine houses down a Centaur broke through the home ahead of it, turning its turret to the set of Emergence holes nearby it blew them to pieces, firing on the other homes and using the debris to close them off before driving on, looking on for other targets. Despite having closed off the holes, Locust still swarmed forwards, dozens of them had managed to deploy to the surface before the Centaur had arrived, and now Nichols and his squad were forced to deal with them.

Pad Salton continued to snipe enemies as best he could as Fenix finished searching the last house on his side of the street. "Fenix over here, Santiago, house by house, you know what to do, go!" Nichols shouted, Dom nodded to the Lieutenant and broke into the house to their left. Fenix took cover behind the Armadillo as a hail of gunfire whizzed in his direction, Maxson lowered the turret for a second and gunned down five of the Locust before the rest scattered for cover, a couple of squads of Locust who'd emerged from the furthest hole now advanced forward, and a couple of Reavers descended to fire on the squad of Gears, taking aim at the APC and forcing Maxson into cover, making his return fire increasingly limited, rockets slammed into the ground around them and machine gun rounds followed as the Reaver would pull out of its dive. Marcus finally made his way over to Nichols and went as prone as he could in the thick armour, returning fire with any Locust he could. Up above a King Raven arrived, it descended as low as it could behind the Gears and Nichols saw a squad rappel down, just in time too as one of their harassing reavers opened fire, a rocket slammed into the crew compartment, sending the Raven into a spin before it slammed into a house nearby. The fresh squad of Gears advanced to Nichols Position, and spread out, the reinforcements provided the extra firepower they needed and soon they'd managed to create a stalemate. Maxson continued to try his best to fire on the enemies who flew above them and did manage to shoot down his second Reaver of the day, forcing the third to withdraw.

"I have an idea, not my smartest, but we need to kill these bastards and move on" Nichols shouted to Marcus. Dom had finally finished checking out the houses, thankfully, they were all cleared, no one in there, which made Combat that little bit easier. "Pad, keep us covered for a minute" the Lieutenant said down the Radio, he moved forward and jumped into the troop compartment, he lay as flat as he could, and realised he would have just enough cover. "Hey! Which one of you wants to be the second gunner?" Nichols shouted. At first, Fenix and Santiago looked confused, Maxson ignored what was going on behind him in the vehicle as he slowed his rate of fire, hoping to keep the Locust pinned without overheating the turret. Marcus hopped in and lay next to him, there Lancers aimed outwards, Nichols ordered the Armadillo forward. It was then everyone realised what his plan was. "You're fucking crazy Lieutenant" Marcus shouted as the engine of the APC roared to life from idle once more, speeding forward the driver did his best to keep the vehicle stable over the debris and the craters caused by the closed E-Holes, Nichols laughed as Maxson once more fired at every target he possibly could, soon followed by the two Gears in the back, the Locust dropped and those that weren't killed fled through the exit created by the Centaur. "Well shit, that was fun" the Corporal in the turret said, Nichols just sighed and laughed, relieved his plan had actually worked. "Fights not over, driver back up, we'll follow them through that exit, "regroup on me, we'll keep the APC covered, follow them, we'll kill all the Locust bastards" the Lieutenant ordered down the Radio, the remaining six men jogged cautiously forwards, scanning the buildings in case any Locust had managed to sneak away for an ambush.

The cackling of gunfire as well as the large grumbles of cannon explosions had begun to die down, reports of the Locust withdrawing were slowly being called out to control, but the fight wasn't over yet, and Nichols and his troops advanced through the ruined houses that the Centaur had previously slammed through, ensuring the streets were cleared before following the devastation to the next fight. Reavers continued to fly overhead, but by now Anti-Aircraft units had deployed their batteries and were firing into the sky, cutting them down as Ravens flew in fresh troops and evacuated the wounded. The evening soon faded to night and now with the heavy rain, visibility was extremely poor, most lights were out as lines were cut in the fighting, which made the advance through the city's streets far more treacherous than they already were. Pad raised his hand, and the APC came to a halt followed by the Gears. Nichols made his way up to the sniper, following where he was pointing to he could see a group of perhaps ten or eleven Locust, they'd been gunning down civilians, and now, they were mutilating them, it outraged Nichols but he forced himself to keep his composure, he walked over to the APC and climbed up to quietly speak to Corporal Maxson. "Aim your turret about, thirty degrees to your left" the Corporal did as he was told and quickly gasped, Nichols was sure he had noticed, keep your eye on them, but do not shoot, "I'm going to get us into position, tell me if any of them move, and when I give the order, have the driver turn on his lights, understood?" the Lieutenant asked, Maxson nodded, and dropped down into the crew compartment, presumably to inform them of the plan, Nichols climbed back down, and issued his commands. Four of the Gears went over to the right, slowly but surely making their way to a good firing position, Nichols and another Gear moved Left, it took them a good five minutes to make their way to their positions, but it would be worth it when they could add another ten to eleven dead Locust to their kills. "Okay, do it now Maxson" Nichols whispered into his radio, the Lights sprung on, catching the enemy by surprise and blinding them just long enough for the turret of the APC to gun half of them down, the last six were picked off by the Gears on the ground. It was too late for the civilians, but at least they'd been avenged, and they weren't going to be desecrated.


End file.
